Today Hindu fundamentalists are redefining terms such as “Hindu”, “Hinduism”, and legitimizing violence in the name of ancestry, DNA tests can come to our aid and help us understand how are all linked to one another. These tests also helps us understand the inbreeding that has taken place in our community in the name of caste. As you can see, my father is 100% South Asian. The geographical spread of his DNA takes us as far as Afghanistan. My mother on the other end has inherited a tiny bit of DNA from East Asia, Yakut and American regions. 2.5% of my genes are from the neanderthals! […]

I get haircuts (even Ripley does not believe this!) I was visiting World Bank office in Nairobi, Kenya and I wanted to look civilized. Or else the bank might fund more projects in India to make us “look” civilized. I was staying in YMCA and it was too late to go out to buy a razor to shave my head (yes, I have so much hair that it needs to be razed, not cut!) I decided to get a haircut from the saloon inside YMCA. After explaining my hairstylist, Esther, about my necessity of getting a haircut, I sat down […]

If you are a foreigner travelling in Bangladesh, please be ready to answer the following questions: Which country? Are you married? What is your religion? Third question was the most ubiquitous in Bangladesh. I did not experience this in Nepal. But in Kenya, it was a different story. In Chittagong, near Sitakund, I met with a group of 8 to 12-year-old children playing cricket in the back alleys. From a distance a kid hollered, “Which country?” “India” The kids stopped playing cricket and approached me to ask a more important question, “Which religion?” “Humanity,” I replied with a smile. “No, […]